Jelly is more than something you spread on toast to Justine “Justy” Haney.

It’s the culinary wave of the future.

Haney looks forward to a day when foodies ask for Justy’s Jelly by name, and not just as a morning condiment. It’s a fine complement to wild-game dishes, for example, and already served in eateries around Central Oregon.

Sykes Mitchell of Duck Creek Outfitters uses Justy’s Jelly in recipes served regularly at the hunting lodge in Sisters.

“It’s fantastic,” Mitchell said. “We go through cases of the stuff.”

A favorite recipe is a duck breast with jelly applied inside and out and grilled to a crispy finish. Justy’s Jelly deserves better than a cracker, he said.

Haney in 1996 paid the owner of the since-closed Paradise Grill, where Haney worked as a server, $3,000 for some pots, pans, ladles, spoons and two recipes. Those original two — pineapple jalapeño and pineapple roasted garlic — have since grown to 10. Haney set out to make jelly a thriving enterprise.

“I wanted it to be my full-time business, and support my family and me,” she said.

By 1998, however, she had curtailed the operation, prompted by the responsibilities of motherhood and the lack of marketing opportunities. But in 2010, laid off from her job as receptionist for a local building contractor, she fired up her stove once again.

Today, she employs three people, all part-timers, to cook and label, and rents a one-room, 350-square-foot space on Northwest Cedar Avenue with two ordinary stoves. She started out making 12 cases a week and now produces as many as 40. Her clients range from Whole Foods Markets in Oregon and Washington and Ray’s Food Place stores in Oregon, to a gourmet food club in Texas and Internet customers on the East Coast.

She plows profits back into the business but remains optimistic. The business is free of debt and expanding.

“We’re growing 25 to 50 percent per year,” she said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7815

jditzler@bendbulletin.com

Q: Where do you see the business in five years?

A: My hope is to be in more retail locations across the Northwest, and my main focus is to get into more restaurants, food shacks, to have more of the culinary part of the business.

Q: Do you plan on any further hiring?

A: We are hopefully growing out of this building in the next year, and hiring a full-time cook and someone labeling in a different room.